You Will Never Die
by mispel
Summary: Dawn didn’t turn out to be a normal girl. Starts around season 5 and 6.
1. Chapter 1

Title: You Will Never Die

Author: mispel

E-mail: mispel9@yahoo.com

Rating: G

Summary: Dawn didn't turn out to be a normal girl. Starts around season 5 and 6. 

Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing 

Feedback: Any comments would be welcome

  
  


You Will Never Die

  
_You will never get any older, and you will never die._   


Chapter 1

  
  


If A Tree Falls In The Woods

  
  


Tara noticed it first. 

"Dawn isn't growing up," she told Willow.

"What's the rush? She's only 15," Willow said busy organizing her old floppies alphabetically and by color. 

"I don't think she is," Tara said. She didn't want to say it. But she was the only one who saw.

"What?" Willow asked distractedly, paying more attention to her organizing.

"She is 14. Just like last year. She hasn't grown," Tara told her flatly, not expecting to be believed. Willow stopped what she was doing. 

"She just had a birthday party. We were there. There were 15 candles. I counted," Willow told Tara, finally looking at her.

"She is the same, Willow. She wears different clothes and makeup sometimes. But she is the same," Tara insisted.

"People stop growing," Willow told her frowning.

"Not like that."

Willow shook her head. She couldn't take it in yet. Tara dropped it. She would wait until Willow's eyes convinced her of the truth.

  
  


Pay No Attention To The Man Behind The Curtain

  


Anya noticed it next. She laid it all out for Xander as he walked her to the Magic Box. They had stopped on the sidewalk and Xander was staring at her.

"It's spooky," she told him as people passed by on their way to work, or possibly shopping. Either way it was good - people had to work to make money so they could shop. 

After he was done staring at her like she was crazy, Xander told her, "You're imagining things," dismissing what she said as always.

"Those monks didn't really mean for her to be a regular kid and live out a regular, human life. They just needed a flesh jar for their glowy stuff," Anya told him bluntly, because only a blunt object could get through Xander's thick scull.

"That's kind of gross," was all he said.

"She's disposable. Like a Kleenex box or a yogurt container," Anya tried again.

"Also gross. Yogurt, yuck. Nice crackpot theory, though. We'll file it away right alongside 'Why ground rabbit isn't in the meat isle of your local grocery store'. But let's not share it with Dawn. OK?" Xander said to her in that infuriating, 'Anya is crazy, let's not listen to her' way.

"I won't need to. Sooner or later, she'll notice. People will comment. Not me. Tactless people. She'll catch on," Anya predicted and walked away in order to make more money.

  


To be continued


	2. Chapter 2

Title: You Will Never Die

Author: mispel

E-mail: mispel9yahoo.com

Rating: PG

Summary: Dawn didn't turn out to be a normal girl. Starts around season 5 and 6.

Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing

Feedback: Any comments would be welcome

  


You Will Never Die

  
__

You will never get any older, and you will never die.

  
Chapter 2   
  


Frankenstein

  


They were in the back room of the Magic Box. Dawn was helping out, packing up some things for shipping. Willow was sitting at the desk Anya used for bookkeeping. Willow's graduate thesis was on the computer monitor, but she was working on something else that Dawn couldn't see.

Earlier, one of Dawn's teachers had come into the shop. When she saw Dawn, the teacher looked fidgety. She started to say how Dawn looked well. There was a pause before 'well'. Maybe she was going to say 'the same', and she changed her mind. The woman rushed out and wouldn't let Anya give her her change.

"How come no one says anything any more?" Dawn asked Willow later. Buffy wouldn't discuss it - she went all Mom-in-denial.

"It's Sunnydale." That's all the explanation she got from the preoccupied Willow.

"Nice place to live, if you're a freak." Dawn tried to look over Willow's shoulder at what she was working on, but Willow was leaning over the pages. The pages looked a little singed. They had diagrams and things on them.

"It's like when people complain that they miss the change of seasons because they live in a year round paradise," Anya noted as she came through the back room.

"Want to change places?" Dawn asked her sharply. They had this discussion before, sometimes with Xander there to tell Anya to be more sensitive. But Dawn didn't need Anya to pretend to be sensitive. She was bad at it anyway.

"You get to be young and immature forever, and you complain because there are no angry villagers with torches and pitchforks coming up to batter down the castle gate. It's a deal, lets change places. Willow, do your thing," Anya said as she stood with one hand on the doorway. But Willow wasn't listening - she'd heard it all before.

  


The Shotgun Variable

  


"What are you? Everyone knows you're not human."

Dawn heard the words on a kind of delay. The shotgun pointed at her middle was kind of distracting. She didn't answer. She just tried to breathe quietly - like being inconspicuous would help at this point. She had been noticed and it wasn't good.

Dawn worked at the coffee shop part time. She had seen the guy with the shotgun come in before, looking a lot better. And without the shotgun. Now he was unshaven in that way that said, 'severe, mental distress'.

"Do you know what happened to her?" he asked, sounding like he was accusing Dawn of something.

"Who? I don't know..." Dawn started to say.

"My niece. She disappeared weeks ago. My brother is a wreck. I pried this thing out of his hands," the man said meaning the shotgun.

"I'm sorry," Dawn said.

"I thought you might know something," he said looking confused.

"I don't. I'm sorry," Dawn told him. She didn't know lots of stuff. Like could she die from a gunshot wound. She could be hurt. She could bleed. But could she die? There was only one way to find out, and she wasn't that curious. She wasn't ready. Too young to die.

"My niece is only sixteen." For a moment, he looked lost in thought. Then his attention was back on Dawn. "Do you remember when you were sixteen," he asked her in that accusing tone again.

"No," Dawn answered. She remembered pretending she was sixteen and everyone pretending with her. The calendar always turned to the same page for her. The clock hands just twitched in place like when the battery is running out. Like that guy's hands on the gun.

Thinking that he might be getting ready to shoot, all Dawn could see was the shotgun. The cops who rushed in were a blur. The gun was lowered and then dropped to the floor. She still looked at it thinking that it could have answered her questions.

When the police took him away, they looked at Dawn kind of funny as he ranted about how she was some kind of thing. The guy who worked the espresso machine had called them from the back where he was hiding. The cops questioned Dawn, and she played dumb. She didn't know what he was talking about. She didn't know his niece. No, they didn't go to school together. The real answers were playing in her head so loud she had trouble playing her part.

"I don't go to school. I don't know what I am. Yes, there is a name for it. I'm the Key. Does it mean anything to you? Does it help you? Does it bring her back? I can't turn back time. I don't have any powers. Willow checked. Who? It doesn't matter."

In reality, she said, "I can't explain anything. He is just one of those crazed guys who hijacks a school bus because of the IRS. Or shoots up an office full of secretaries because he got fired. I just work here."

The cops gave up. They left her alone and she hyperventilated a little.

  


If You Lived Here, You Would Be Home Now

  


It was strange to look down on a grave without knowing if one would ever be dug for her. Everyone else knew - one day.

Dawn liked to sit between them. Mom on her left, Buffy on her right. Of course, they couldn't recover the body, but Dawn had watched her die so she hardly ever had that dream where Buffy came back again. Dawn could hear birds and the rush of traffic far away. The grass around the graves was neat, newly mowed and a little prickly under her hands. The markers gleamed white in the sun. Tara was a few rows over. She would go and say hi later.

It was her last visit for a while. Xander and Anya were waiting by the car to take her away somewhere where she hadn't been a teenager for as long as anyone could remember.

  


To be continued


	3. Chapter 3

Title: You Will Never Die

Author: mispel

E-mail: mispel9yahoo.com

Rating: PG

Summary: Dawn didn't turn out to be a normal girl. Starts around season 5 and 6.

Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing

Feedback: Any comments would be welcome

  


You Will Never Die

  


Chapter 3

  


Breakable

"I keep expecting her to go poof," Xander said as he stared out the window.

They still didn't have blinds. There was unpacking to do, and Xander was pacing and wasting time. Anya pictured him looking out that window forever - no blinds and Dawn not coming back.

"She didn't go poof. She went to get salty and fattening snacks at the quaint, little corner store. I wonder what their profit margin is like," Anya wondered as she unwrapped some breakables.

"You said there was a risk if we moved her. You said she could collapse like a soufflé," Xander reminded her. Willow had said it would be fine. It would have been nice if Xander had believed her instead of Willow. For once.

"There was a risk. But Dawn survived the move. Unlike this glass." Anya held up a broken glass. Xander hardly looked at it.

"Willow wrapped it." Anya concluded. It had the mark of Willow's shoddy wrapping technique.

"You said she wasn't supposed to last," Xander kept going on about it. He just wanted Anya to admit that she was wrong.

"She wasn't. Why do you think they made her human?" Anya asked as she rewrapped the glass to throw it away.

"So they could hide her," Xander ventured in that 'duh' voice.

"Oh, please. Why not a rock among millions of rocks? Or a penny on the street? You know, most people won't even bend down to pick up a penny."

"They wanted Buffy to get all protective. Pet rocks and pennies just don't tug at your heartstrings like little sisters," Xander proposed, still not helping with the unpacking.

"They also don't bleed all over the place. Look, sure they wanted Buffy to pull out all the stops to protect her. But if she failed, they wanted the Key to be nice and killable," Anya took out another glass, this one was in one piece.

"We don't know that," Xander said. His voice was thick because he didn't like to think about Dawn dying. The nice, crazy man with a shotgun could have settled that question. But it was better not to know some things.

"There she is," Xander said after a few minutes. Anya could see her too, coming up the path carrying a shopping bag. Maybe now, Xander would start helping.

  


Imitation Of Life

It was a nice town, lots of shady trees and business opportunities, according to Anya. It was the middle of the day when Dawn walked around. She had tried getting a job, but all she got were strange looks, and people asking why she wasn't in school. They didn't do that in Sunnydale. Ask questions in Sunnydale, and you might find out something you didn't want to know. She had turned invisible there - just another thing that didn't make sense and was best ignored. By everyone except the loonies. And the loonies with shotguns.

Here Dawn only had maybe one or two more years before her progression through ever more mature wardrobe and makeup would stop fooling anyone. After that, they were finally going to send her to college where Willow taught. Dawn was sure she could pass for a young eighteen. Looking at her reflection in a store window, Dawn wished people would stop looking at her like she was a kid skipping school.

  


Static

Everyone either died or had lives. Dawn didn't have those options. She only had Willow now. Some of the time as a friend. The rest of the time as a scientist to Dawn, the lab rat. But it had been a while since Willow had asked for Dawn's blood or scraped her skin or pulled her hair out by the root. Willow mostly worked on the burned pages now.

Dawn had only managed one year of college. After that, there were too many stares and questions so she dropped out. She had made only one friend there. And he wouldn't stop asking her if she was really eighteen like he was afraid that he was going to get arrested or something.

"Everyone else changes except me," Dawn said to Willow, while looking in the mirror. She had changed her look so many times, and discovered there were only so many things you could do to your hair.

"And you," Dawn said accusingly. Willow had been a workaholic for so many years - it was like they were both flies stuck in amber. Willow made some kind of noncommittal noise as she typed on a new computer on her lap. She had fried her old one, and now she was busier than ever reconstructing her 'work'.

"I'm sick of teenagers. I guess there are always demons. They don't mind being friends with a freak. But they are all demony. It's not the same," Dawn babbled, and Willow made some more meaningless noises. Then she went to her lab. Where Dawn wasn't allowed. Because of contamination.

  


The Better To See You With

It was Xander's retirement party. The kids were outside. And Dawn. Some of the other guests milling around the back yard remembered Dawn from before the kids were even born. They stared and took extra swigs of their drinks.

Xander was looking at them through the kitchen window. Willow was sitting at the breakfast table. She said she was going to help him refill the punch bowl, but neither one of them was doing anything. The punch was Xander's special mix. It went fast. Now the red liquid was too low to be ladled out, and orange slices were stuck to the sides, drying.

"You know when I look at Dawn - just by herself - it doesn't seem weird. It's when I look at us, I know something is wrong. Like when you are riding in a car, and it seems like the trees are moving, but it's you," Xander told Willow.

"We are moving. Passing her by," Willow said from behind him.

Xander didn't turn. It was bright outside. When he first came inside, his eyes took a minute to adjust. Xander knew that if he turned to look at Willow, he wouldn't be able to see her. And maybe, just for a second, he'd see her as she used to be. Because it was so sunny, the window over the sink didn't show him his reflection like it did at night. As long as he could see only Dawn, he could forget about that old guy.

"What's going to happen to her?"

  


Nothing New Under the Sun

Willow checked that the security hadn't been breached as she entered. The latest lab was more of a warehouse. It was divided into three storage sections and a work area. The third section worried her the most. It was extremely delicate. She could hear noises coming from there like constant, low whispering. The noise was audible only in her head. There was no real sound coming from there. The other sections hummed and whirred - reassuring sounds that told her everything was working.

Willow remembered taking the samples. The arguments before they agreed. Well, not really agreed, since she never really told them what she was going to do. Willow had said she needed them 'just in case'.

Anya was the most difficult as always, suspicious. Buffy had been resigned. She had let out a strange, little laugh and looked at Willow, like she was saying, "here we go again".

To be continued

  



	4. Chapter 4

Title: You Will Never Die

Author: mispel

E-mail: 

Rating: PG

Summary: Dawn didn't turn out to be a normal girl. Starts around season 5 and 6.

Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing

Feedback: Any comments would be welcome

  


You Will Never Die

  


Chapter 4

Assembly

  


Dawn couldn't help but get her hopes up. Willow had been working on something mysterious for years. Dawn knew it had to be the cure. Now it was ready.

Willow had sent her away for the weekend. A fourteen-year-old raised some eyebrows at a spa. Plus, Dawn was too nervous about the cure to enjoy herself. Except when Paulo gave her the massage. They were going to stick her with an older lady masseuse, but Dawn put her foot down about that. She already missed out on so much being treated like a kid all the time.

Willow picked her up. Dawn expected it to happen at Willow's lab, but Willow was driving her home. They were in front of the house that Willow had bought for them a year ago. Dawn didn't know why they needed the house for just the two of them. Willow said it was more homey.

Dawn's heart was beating so fast as they parked in the driveway. Looking kind of nervous, Willow smiled at her. She led her into the house.

  


After that it was all kind of a blur. Buffy greeted her at the door. Xander and Anya came out of the living room. Tara was in the kitchen making pancakes. The smell made Dawn feel dizzy. They were all young, and Willow looked strange among them.

"You'll never be alone," Willow said as Dawn dropped into a chair so she wouldn't faint.

Buffy was holding her hand. Anya was fanning her. Xander was getting her a glass of water. Tara was throwing a burned pancake into the trash.

"Make them go away!" Dawn said through her teeth.

"Dawn," the fake Buffy said in a scolding voice.

"Willow!" Dawn screamed as she pulled her hand away from Buffy's, refusing to look at her. Willow told them to give her a minute alone with Dawn. She told them nicely, like they were regular people. Buffy even gave Willow an unhappy 'But I am her sister' look before she left.

Dawn had tried not to cry, but it was all too much. No cure. Then this.

"They're like you," Willow tried to explain.

"Do you have something to tell me? Am I a robot now too?" Dawn asked in a harsh, sarcastic voice.

"No. But they won't ever change either. Like you," Willow said. She was concerned at Dawn's reaction, but she obviously still thought it was a good idea.

"They are robots," Dawn said.

"Only a little. I used everyone's DNA to build them," Willow said.

"Are they clones?"

"No. They have to last. I transferred the memories and feelings..."

"They won't last. They'll break. You had to fix the Buffy robot all the time," Dawn said, hardly able to breathe and speak at the same time. She hoped that it was all a bad dream and that they weren't all just outside waiting to be let back in.

"I added some magic. It was tricky. I didn't want to show them to you until I was sure. The magic will keep them going for a long time," Willow explained.

Dawn couldn't breathe inside the house. She went for a walk. Willow said she didn't have to decide what to do right away. Like there was a choice. Here is your new puppy, but you don't have to keep it. Dawn didn't ask what would happen if she didn't want them.

"Willow, what happens to the puppies people don't want? What do they do with them?" Dawn asked of no one in a childish voice.

Dawn wondered what they were doing now. She wanted to go back and look at them again. It might not be too bad. Just for a while. It would be like looking at a photo album or an old home movie.

  


Food For Thought

Willow wasn't home, but it was a full house. They filled the space. They made noise. They left things lying around. Dawn didn't have to accept them as anything else except what they were. But it was so easy.

Dawn could pretend that Xander didn't collapse at his breakfast table. He didn't slump over the newspaper so it looked like he was sleeping. When Anya touched him, he didn't fall out of his chair to the floor. No, he was in the back yard of the new house, making lots of noise putting in a deck.

That part wasn't hard. It was a second hand memory anyway. Dawn remembered the crumpled tissues in Anya's lap and how her hands were shaking when she told them.

"He wouldn't answer his phone," Anya had said to Dawn and Willow, like she was mad at him for that. Since his first heart attack, Anya had been calling Xander every day to check on him, pretending she wanted to talk about the kids or the grandkids. Dawn remembered Anya's hands as she was wringing the tissues - just blue veins and bones fanning out under the thin, pale skin.

It was easy to forget that that was real. Her eyes were telling her that it couldn't be. Dawn could see Anya sitting on the living room couch, looking through the classifieds for a job with room for advancement. Anya didn't let her hair go gray and forget to eat. She didn't go into the hospital where she kept getting worse and worse. Anya wasn't that thin shape under the hospital sheets right before she died - when she couldn't recognize anyone and nothing she said made any sense. As Dawn went through the living room, Anya was chewing on the red pen she used to circle the ads.

Dawn went into the kitchen and she heard Tara humming. Buffy looked annoyed at her but didn't say anything because it was Tara. Tara was researching, helping Buffy find a spiny demon that got away from her last night. Dawn got herself a late lunch.

  


"Do you guys want anything?" Dawn asked from the open refrigerator.

"No, not hungry," Buffy said. Tara just shook her head. But Dawn had already remembered - they didn't eat. They were machines encased in artificial flesh held together by magic. Dawn closed the refrigerator and stared at them.

They were leafing through demon books spread on the kitchen counter. Dawn wondered how much faster they could be doing that if they weren't pretending to be human.

Tara was still humming as she flipped the pages. Dawn timed her, four minutes and Buffy huffed and left. Tara just smiled at Dawn, oblivious.

  


To be continued


	5. Chapter 5

Title: You Will Never Die

Author: mispel

E-mail: 

Rating: PG

Summary: Dawn didn't turn out to be a normal girl. Starts around season 5 and 6.

Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing

Feedback: Any comments would be welcome

  


You Will Never Die

Chapter 5

  


All Affairs in Order

Willow had a big lecture coming up and she overslept. Dawn had to come and wake her. Willow's eyes didn't want to open even as Dawn pulled apart the curtains and the late morning sunlight blinded her.

Once her eyes adjusted a little, Willow could see Dawn looking around her room. Willow wondered for a second if she had left out anything she shouldn't have. But Dawn seemed to be looking for something that wasn't there.

"Why don't you and Tara share a room? Isn't she good enough for you?" Dawn let a little bitterness creep into her voice as she asked.

"This is really nice - good morning is way overrated. Anyway, she's too young for me. I have my eye on Ms. Devon, former head of the psychology department. 71 and she still parasails," Willow said with a wink.

"Then why did you make Tara in love with you?" Dawn asked. She was standing in front of the window, backed by the light, so that Willow could hardly see her.

"I didn't. That was just part of who she was. It came with the package. I didn't tamper with their personalities. I just transferred them," Willow said feeling a little defensive. She shifted in bed but didn't get up.

When Dawn moved away from the window, Willow could see her better, except for the spots. Dawn didn't really like to talk about what went into making Tara and the others. It was obvious as she turned to fiddle with something on Willow's dresser.

"That was impressive. Why not go for a patent? You could make billions." Dawn was being sarcastic. Though it was probably true.

"We have enough money," Willow said too seriously, like they were talking about the bank balance.

Dawn turned and frowned at that. Willow wished Dawn wasn't still standing there. Then Willow wouldn't have to hide how much trouble she had getting out of bed, and she could take the pills she had remembered to put in the drawer the night before.

"I have to get ready to go, Dawn. When I come back," Willow promised her vaguely.

  


Need to Know

Willow had turned down the lights in the lab so they wouldn't hurt her eyes so much. Now her eyes were straining to see the tiny connections. She noticed the shadow as the other looked over her shoulder.

"If you can't sit still, I'll have to turn you off," Willow warned her.

"I wouldn't be so fidgety if you let me help," she said but she sat down.

"You're too fast for me. You know what I want before I do. I need to do this on my own. I have to make sure everything is right," Willow explained her vice trailing off as she struggled to keep her hand steady.

"When do you tell her and the others?"

"Don't be in such a hurry," Willow said in a sharp voice. It was an accusation.

"I'm not." She sounded hurt and defensive. But she could sound so callous when she got excited. Just like she was supposed to.

"Soon. You can't always tell people right away. They might try to interfere, or even stop you," Willow lectured.

"I know."

"Sometimes you have to do things and then..."

"I know."

"Right, you know everything," Willow told her.

"I don't know what you had for breakfast. I don't know if you took your medicine. I don't know what's going to happen - if I'll be good enough, if she'll hate me."

Willow turned to look at her. Insecure. Just like she was supposed to be.

"She'll only hate you a little," Willow told her and went back to work.

  


Next Best Thing

Willow was spending her time in the lab again. This time Dawn didn't get her hopes up. And she didn't let Willow keep her out. She barged in one afternoon. Willow jumped, but Dawn wasn't looking at her. There was another Willow in the room.

"It's the young you," Dawn observed.

Willow nodded. Then she smiled shakily.

"Well, sure. To go with the young everyone else," Willow said through her forced smile.

  


Life's Work

By the end of the year Dawn had free access to the lab. The young Willow showed her around. There were pieces all over the place. Spare parts in special containers. Also other pieces. A familiar hand that didn't belong to any of them.

"I tried to make your Mom, but..." Willow didn't finish, she smiled sadly. She had been so nice to Dawn. So Willow. It was weird to be comforted at Willow's death by her replica.

Dawn turned to leave. She didn't want to be there. She didn't want to look at those pieces.

  


To be continued


	6. Chapter 6

Title: You Will Never Die

Author: mispel

E-mail: 

Rating: PG

Summary: Dawn didn't turn out to be a normal girl. Starts around season 5 and 6.

Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing

Feedback: Any comments would be welcome

  


You Will Never Die

Chapter 6

All Alone In The World

Anya was doing her taxes and frowning, occasionally cursing.

"They punish you for succeeding, you know. They want you to loose money and be poor," she was grumbling.

"Yeah, sucks to be rich," Dawn told her as she idly looked for something to do on her own computer.

"I wouldn't know. The government is taking all my profits," Anya said, apparently without noting Dawn's sarcastic tone.

"You could always sell your business and buy a little cottage in the country. Plant herbs and tomatoes and chickens," Dawn suggested as she gave up trying to amuse herself.

"You don't plant chickens. You order them from the supermarket. They are less likely to peck out your eyes that way," Anya said without taking her eyes off her tax maneuverings.

"Okay, no chicken harvesting. But you don't want a place of your own?" Dawn asked watching Anya who didn't even raise her head.

"Sometimes. But it passes," Anya said as she double-checked the computer's math.

"Because you love sharing a place with five other people and two pets," Dawn said and surprised Anya with her sharp, irritated tone.

Dawn left quickly as Anya gave her a puzzled look.

'Who wouldn't want to baby-sit me forever?' Dawn thought. 'What could be better? Certainly not having a life of your own.'

Dawn waited for Willow on the front steps. It was dark by the time she got home.

"What is it?" Willow asked knowing that Dawn sitting on the steps waiting for her meant trouble.

"Didn't you trust them?" Dawn asked her.

"Who?" Willow leaned on the wrought iron railing like she was tired.

"Them, you know, the them we usually talk about. You just had to throw a little Stepford in there didn't you? Some flesh and blood, a cup of hardware and software, magic to taste, and just a pinch of mind control."

"Dawn..." Willow started to say in a deliberately patient tone that meant that Dawn was being unreasonable, and Willow was going to explain things to her slowly and calmly.

"Why am I asking you?" Dawn said as she got up abruptly and walked away.

"Dawn it's late," Willow yelled after her. But Dawn kept walking.

Buffy was out there somewhere making the world safe. Tara was at her responsible witchcraft group or on her way home from her responsible witchcraft group. Xander was at home staying out of Anya's way. Dawn was walking down the pretty street a few blocks away from where they all lived in that old but well maintained house. And they all lived there so Dawn wouldn't be alone. But being alone was just a matter of how she chose to see things. She either had a house-full or no one.

The modern townhouses she was passing were all lit up inside, except for the one that had the glowing For Sale sign that started to display the features of the place as Dawn went by. All the houses were soundproofed - when Dawn passed them, she couldn't hear the people who were talking too loudly or the volume turned up too high. She did hear the clanking of garbage being deposited underground, right under her feet. Out of sight.

  


When The Cat's Away

In the early days, right after Willow had made them, Dawn waited till Willow was away and then told them she was going out. It wasn't a lie - she did go out. But she came right back and hid outside the house and spied on them through the windows.

Buffy yelled that someone had clogged the sink as she stalked through the house. Then she stalked the other way yelling that someone had broken the plunger. She was waving it around, and Anya told her to put that filthy thing away. Tara looked innocent, but Buffy said she was putting her on the suspect list anyway. First on the suspect list was Dawn. Anya said it was probably Willow. Xander said he would go get another plunger. Then he made a speech about how the old, manual plungers were better and didn't break. When he came out of the house, Dawn hid.

Dawn did that every few years. Usually after she had the nightmare where they all froze as soon as she was out of sight. It was reassuring to see them moving around, doing all those little things to annoy each other. But maybe it wasn't any different than leaving the TV on when no one was watching.

  


What's Missing

Willow looked down at the empty slot. Willow, the original Willow, had made it just in case. But it was never used. Nothing was ever stored there, but the label remained - Giles.

"You wouldn't approve of me," Willow told him.

Willow had never dared to take the imprint of his personality. Before his fall, he would have known what she was planning and tried to stop her. Afterwards, it was too risky. His damaged brain would have made for a bad transfer.

"It's not so bad. For the others, it's even better. They can put it out of their minds. That's what Tara tells me. They can almost just be themselves. The way people don't think about their brains or the 20 plus feet of coiled intestines inside them."

Willow had to think about what was inside. She had to fix them. More and more as time passed. She continued to talk to the empty Giles slot aware that the whole time a part of her brain logged the conversation as a possible sign of malfunction or deterioration.

"I have too many protocols and safeguards. It's not as much fun," she said turning back to her work.

"But it's not that different, either. I always had too many thoughts," she added.

Like the Giles slot, the others were empty now too. The other Willow said they used to hum. Willow remembered that. But she knew she wouldn't be able to hear anything.

Willow took inventory. She had everything she needed except the imprints. She could build an army of Xanders and Taras and Anyas and Willows. But they wouldn't fool anyone.

To be continued


	7. Chapter 7

Title: You Will Never Die

Author: mispel

E-mail: 

Rating: PG

Summary: Dawn didn't turn out to be a normal girl. Starts around season 5 and 6.

Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing

Feedback: Any comments would be welcome

  
  


You Will Never Die

Chapter 7

  


I Can't Believe It's Not Xander

They had been in the middle of a conversation. Or Xander was since he was saying something Dawn wasn't listening to. Then she heard a weird sound coming from him.

"He's broken again! Damn it!" Dawn yelled. Xander was stuck like a broken record. He had been in the middle of saying something. Now the end of his last word was repeating. His hand kept going, making a hole where he was scratching at his face. Dawn dragged Willow into the living room.

"I'll fix him. Calm down," Willow said as she turned him off. She went to get her tool kit. Dawn followed her. She didn't want to be alone in the room with Xander's gouged face. It was already growing back but Dawn could see the wires imbedded in the flesh.

"Where's Buffy?" Dawn asked.

"Patrolling," Willow told her. She almost ran into Dawn when Willow turned around quickly and found that Dawn had been following too closely.

"Why are they breaking down so much?" Dawn asked, now face to face with Willow.

"They're old," Willow answered simply.

"What will happen when you break down?"

"I am a later model. I'll outlast them. But you'll need to learn how to fix us, Dawny," Willow said seriously. She walked past Dawn back to the motionless Xander.

"No," Dawn said just as she always did. Willow had tried to teach her. Dawn learned the basic emergency procedures. Then she stopped. She didn't want to look inside.

As Willow started to work on Xander, she opened him up. Dawn could see the wires hanging from the strange, bloodless flesh, and she turned her back.

"Just fix him. We have a conversation to finish."

  


Breaking The Routine

Dawn must have made too much noise waking Willow because Xander was up too.

"Where is she?" Dawn asked pacing the hallway.

"Staying out late fighting evil," Xander answered instead of Willow.

"Her emergency homing signal hasn't been activated," Willow told her.

"Maybe it's broken," Dawn said not reassured as it was almost 5 AM.

"It was working fine when I checked it yesterday," Willow said.

"If it was on all the time we'd know her location," Dawn complained.

"So would everyone else with the right equipment," Willow pointed out.

"That's right. Can't attract attention. You're supposed to fool everyone not just me," Dawn snapped.

"Why don't we mount an expedition. Hit the usual spots. I'm sure Buffy is just extra busy tonight," Xander suggested.

"I'm coming too," Dawn insisted.

"No, we'll..." Xander started to say.

"I'm coming," Dawn said firmly, cutting him off.

Xander looked like he was trying to figure out if there was any point in arguing. He was so real now. No trace of the mechanical, broken Xander.

He was the one who carried Buffy home the first time she got mangled by a demon. He had been so upset. Dawn was nearly hysterical seeing so many wires ripped out and the flesh growing all wrong around them. Then Willow went to work, and Buffy was as good as new. Dawn got more used to seeing Buffy like that after it happened a few more times. Willow had to fix Buffy more than anyone. It was almost routine.

This time they found Buffy sitting on the ground of a cemetery. Her mouth was opening and closing. Her leg was twitching, like she was trying to kick. There was no sign of demon attack. Nothing broken or torn off the way it usually was.

"We'll carry her home," Willow said as Xander lifted her.

  


Extraordinary Measures

Anya almost burned the house down when she broke. That was only a few months after Buffy.

Anya was fussing with her hair before a major business meeting when something went wrong. She pulled out a clump of hair from her head and some scalp came off with it. Anya's elbow jerked and hit the wall over and over again as she clutched the handful of skin and hair. She made a hole in the wall and ripped up her elbow too. Then her wiring and the house wiring crossed and almost fried everything.

Tara put out the fire, but not before the alarm went off. They had to scramble to hide the damaged Anya from the firefighters. Anya's face was perfectly blank the whole time. Like it didn't bother her that her blackened hand was convulsed around the scalped piece of her hair. Smoke rose from her and there was a terrible stench – a mix of burned flesh and wires.

Dawn was cleaning up, throwing away all the burned stuff. As Willow looked into the hole Anya had made, she complained about the ancient wiring inside the walls. Anya's wiring would need major repairs too. Willow thought it was the perfect time for Dawn to learn the ins and outs of robotkind.

"We might have to redo the magic," Willow told her like everything was a go not paying attention to the way dawn was shaking her head in the negative.

"Who's this we? You can't. I can't. You saw what happened before. I almost zapped the whole town out of existence," Dawn reminded her. This Willow was useless with magic. And Dawn had felt the power building up beyond her control as she did only a minor spell. There was a reason Willow had never allowed it.

"We have to find someone to do it," Willow said.

Dawn shook her head some more as she picked up something from the scorched floor. It was blackened, melted, and curled inward. It sort of looked like an ugly, tropical flower. Dawn turned it all around, but she couldn't tell what it was.

"No," Dawn said with finality. "Things weren't meant to last so long. It isn't natural." Dawn held the thing she couldn't recognize and stared at it.

"Don't talk like that, Dawn," Willow said turning to her with concern.

Dawn was a very old woman now. Who looked like a young girl. She wasn't even that out of place any more. The world was full of old people who paid big bucks to look exactly like teenagers. Well not exactly. No one paid big bucks to look like a pimply and gangly real teenager. These people were buried looking like perfect, fresh, and dewy sixteen-year-olds when sooner or later their transplanted organs failed. No amount of money could let them live forever. Not yet. But maybe the world was catching up.

Dawn missed things, though. TV remotes you had to fight over. Microwaves with buttons. Toasters that didn't talk to you. People that aged.

"Just fix them," Dawn said sadly. She hated to see them broken. Frozen in one motion. Stuck doing the same thing over and over again.

  


The end


End file.
